CARSON AND CRAINEY ARSENAL REACTION

13 April 2014

Nick Taylor

Heart-break but heads held high as Scott Carson and Stephen Crainey remain determined in the fight to play at Wembley again in May.

Scott Carson and Stephen Crainey spoke to Latics Player straight after yesterday’s FA Cup with Budweiser semi-final against Arsenal, with both players sending out positive messages after Latics’ cruel exit on penalties.

Carson said:

“It’s gutting, it’s hard to take and with penalties it’s just the flip of a coin sometimes, but it was a proud, proud day for everybody connected to the club.

“It’s just one of those horrible things to be on the end of, but as players and as a Club we’ve just got to keep our heads up.

“Yet again we’ve shown just how good a team we are, the attitude an application of the lads to get us to where we are now has been second to none.

“I’ve played in some big games, but with the history of the FA Cup and with what it means to everybody at Wigan Athletic, I don’t think I’ve been involved in a bigger game.

“If we can cement our place in the play-offs and get to the final there aren’t going to be many teams wanting to play us at Wembley, it just suits us down to the ground.”

Crainey’s reaction echoed the sentiment from Carson that Latics will continue to battle to make it to Wembley Stadium again this season for the Sky Bet Championship Play-Off final.

“It’s heart-breaking to be honest, it’s a horrible way to lose, but throughout the game I thought the lads were outstanding.

“We dug in so well, it’s just heart-breaking that we’ve not made it to the final, it was a monumental effort from every single player.

“You get many ups and downs in football and it’s how you react to the low points that proves the character of a team and we’ve certainly got a lot of character in the dressing room.

“We’ve still got loads to play for this season, we can’t get too down about it now because we want to get back to Wembley for the play-off final.

“There is a lot of work to go towards that, but we are focused and the lads are definitely up for the challenge, I think they all showed that today.

“We can’t be down at all because we took a top four Premier League side to penalty kicks and we were very unlucky not to go through.”

You can watch the full interview with Scott Carson on Latics Player by [clicking here] and you can hear more from Stephen Crainey by [clicking here].